From May 10th – May 19th in 2015, the dates are the same forward and backwards, exciting mathematicians and systematic people alike. Because May is the fifth month and the year is 2015, the number 5 lines up perfectly.
See for yourself:
5/10/15
5/11/15
5/12/15
5/13/15
5/14/15
5/15/15
5/16/15
5/17/15
5/18/15
5/19/15
They’re all the same, whether you read the date forward or backward, therefore epitomizing a palindrome. A palindrome is usually used in terms of words or a phrase which is spelled the same forward or backwards. For example, “Hannah” or “racecar”.
Photo Credit: icons.iconarchive.com
A palindrome can also be a phrase, and the longest English palindromic phrase is said to have 17,259 words. It is jibberish though – for it doesn’t have to make sense, it just has to be the same forwards and backwards! The longest single palindromic word in the English language has 12 letters.
Interestingly, single letter words such as “a” or “I” are also considered to be palindromes.
This “palindrome week” phenomenon is set to happen again in June of 2016, beginning with 6/10/16.
At what point do you realize that you don’t enjoy the things you used to enjoy? And why is it that you stop enjoying them?
Not enjoying the things that you used to enjoy is a symptom of depression and burnout. Or maybe it’s a symptom of growing up and realizing that there are more important things than knitting, reading, or playing video games.
People change. Times change. Situations change. One sees many a romance novel/book with the main protagonist crying “but why do things have to change?” or “we could have it just the way it was before.”
Why do things change. Why do some things become more important than others? Sure, hobbies come and go, but you’ve got a problem when you realize that you can’t enjoy anything anymore.
After living most of my life in the city, sounds of sirens and car horns are just background noise, and the smell of gasoline simply means I’m home. Now, living here at OVS I’ve learned an entirely new way of life, for I have a better chance of seeing a grizzly bear than a bus.
At home, I wake up to the sounds of garbage trucks and school busses, and I fall asleep to the screech of distant sirens and car alarms. And quite honestly, it’s comforting.
Photo Credit: autoparkchryslerjeepblog.com
Now I wake up to birds chirping outside my window, and fall asleep to coyotes howling just a little ways away. And although that sounds beautiful, like some poem or romantic story, those birds are loud! And obnoxious. And constantly make a racket!
Photo Credit: community.secondlife.com
As for the coyotes – who knows what they’re barking about! As far as I know, they could’ve just killed their prey and are celebrating before they enjoy their feast. I’ll take a multiple-ton, killing machine on wheels any day.
I know that both the city and the wilderness come with their fair share of dangers, not one more dangerous than the other. I also know that OVS isn’t actually the wilderness, but compared to the city it sure seems like it! Personally, I prefer living in the city, but life at OVS has opened my eyes to what else is out there.
This week, I stumbled across yet another technological advancement while reading news articles.
Since September 2014, Google has released roughly 50 self-driving cars out and about on the streets of California. These futuristic Lexus’ and Audi’s have been roaming the streets in hopes to prove that they are safe to drive themselves.
So far, there have been only 11 accidents that were minor and included no injuries.
In my opinion, although self-driving cars sound kind of cool, they also sound terrifying. What if we know something is wrong with our car, but we cannot control it because the car is in control of itself?
However, Google makes some very strong points as to why their cars are safer than human driven cars: robots do not get tired, they are not emotional, they are over-cautious rather than fearless, and these cars can see things human’s cannot always see.
Is this an unrealistic plan with too many issues involved? Or what our future will be like?
Miley Cyrus, known for being outspoken and drastically altering her appearance, just opened up about her sexuality and her dislike for labels.
When questioned on Facebook about her sexuality, Cyrus announced that not all of her relationships have been heterosexual, though she did not give any details. Cyrus did not come out as bisexual, however – she stressed the fact that she never wanted to label herself as she wants to be open.
Along the lines of labeling herself, Cyrus declared that she never liked the female stereotypes and expectations, and while she never felt like a boy, she never fit in with girls either. Cyrus simply didn’t appreciate the confinement and what was expected of her, but she has grown to live outside of the conventional expectations.
Cyrus’s progressive thinking along with the action she’s taken has caused lots of uproar. However, the negative attention is unfortunate, for Cyrus is an important advocate for similar causes, and doesn’t care about negative opinions or bad publicity. Simply, Cyrus takes action where others won’t.
With every star studded red carpet, comes along the best and worst dressed list – and this years annual Met Gala was no fashion disappointment.
This year’s Costume Institute Gala Benefit was celebrating the opening of the China: Through the Looking Glass exhibition – which is co-chaired by Jennifer Lawrence, Chinese actress Gong Li,Vogue editor Anna Wintour, and others.
To start off this years best dressed list is The Fault in Our Stars actor, Ansel Elgort. Elgort is wearing Tom Ford and a Harry Winston watch.
Photo Credit: dailymail.co.uk
Next up on the best dressed list is Poppy Delevigne in Marchesa. It’s always a risky move to wear a red dress on the red carpet, but Poppy showed no fear with her daring plunging neckline – and it was absolute perfection.
To start of the worst dressed list, we have Keeping Up with The Kardashians star, Kris Jenner.
Jenner was draped in an ill-fitting Balmain gown. The dress had chunky shoulder pads and overall too much fabric that she just seemed to get lost in.
Photo Credit: buzzfed.com
The entire look was overall too much of everything from head-to-toe. There is a fine line between wearing the dress and having the dress wear you, and Kris sadly identified with the latter.
Next up in line of fashion disasters is Miley Cyrus. Miley is always making risky fashion choices, but her Alexander Wang gown for this year’s Met Gala it felt like a déjà vu. A high neck and complete side cut outs – Miley, you can do better.
Another star of the best-dressed list this year had to be Pitch Perfect’s, Hailee Stienfeld in Michael Kors. While her red dress may have been the most worn color that evening, her elegant gown made an everlasting impression.
Amanda Seyfried stunned the crowd in a gorgeous Cream Givenchy gown. She looked like a romantic angel, yet having a dark lip color gave her look a gothic edge.
Last up on the worst dressed list had to be American Horror story star, Chloe Sevigny in JW Anderson. The star took the Chinese theme too far and in all of the wrong ways.
Her gown, or shall I say strange take on a kimono, was done poorly. The slit down the middle and large bow on her chest was the cherry on top of this over-done sundae.
Photo Credit: vouge.com
To close the show, Queen Bey (or as some people know her, Beyonce) was absolutely jaw dropping.
Beyoncé wore a sheer, bejeweled Givenchy dress with a high ponytail. She has left social media in a complete uproar, and we cannot wait to see how she will out do herself next year.
After an eternity of hair turning gray with old age, and years of people dyeing their hair to hide the gray, that pattern has been reversed.
A new fad, commonly referred to as “granny hair” has taken over today’s fashion. No longer do people need to tediously eradicate all signs of gray hair, for now it is in style.
People much younger than the true age of gray hair are ahead of the curve – embracing the color before it becomes a reality. It is considered to be very fashion forward, and more and more people are actually dyeing their hair to achieve the look. Some truly do end up looking elderly, but most sport the look perfectly.
Photo Credit: amazingly.co
Celebrities including Lady Gaga and Kylie Jenner have adopted the new style, and top fashion designers are also styling their models with gray hair.
This newfound liking for hair that originally meant old age is catching the interest of more and more people each day, and continues to spread through modern fashion.
For a while there have been rumors circling around reality star, Kylie Jenner, about her supposed lip injections.
In a matter of a few months, her lips went from being thin and natural to puffy and large, sparking rumors that she had undergone plastic surgery.
Whilst attempting to comprehend how Kylie’s lips made such a drastic transformation in such a short amount of time, the “Kylie Jenner lip challenge” became quite popular.
In this challenge, a shot glass is placed around the lips and the person has to suck in as hard as they can for a couple of minutes. However, there has been a lot of controversy related to the challenge because of the permanent damage it can cause; discoloration and popped blood vessels.
After months of trying to figure out how Kylie managed to grow the size of her lips so quickly and so drastically, viewers finally got the truth when an episode preview of Keeping Up With the Kardashians came out a few days ago.
Kylie has temporary lip fillers.
“I have temporary lip fillers. It’s just an insecurity of mine, and it’s what I wanted to do,” Kylie said in the video.
Kylie’s age has raised some eyebrows, as a majority of plastic surgeons will not perform any plastic surgery on anyone under the age of 18, regardless of parental consent.
Is Kylie too young to be getting lip injections?
Or does she have the right to fix her insecurities, especially as the whole world watches her every move?
Don’t get me wrong – education is supposed to be challenging. But more frequently I’ve heard people say “Is he okay?” Following comes the response, “Yeah but he’s all burnt out.”
Burnout is real. It’s a state of chronic stress that can cause lethargy, depression, and general numbness and not a care in the world. (I suggest you read the link given below.)
“Burnout happens when you’ve been experiencing chronic stress for so long that your body and your emotional system have begun to shut down and are operating in survival mode,” says Dr. Sara Denning, a clinical psychologist based in Manhattan who specializes in dealing with stress and anxiety. “You numb out because you can’t think. You can’t even make decisions anymore.”
Further delving into the article reveals that burnout symptoms were arriving in younger and younger people, as early as college freshman. Which is where I will be next year. And it’s also where I feel like I’m heading next year.
There’s something called Senioritis, and it’s, as described as me, “a high school senior lacking in motivation because WE’RE GRADUATING OMYGOSH.” The symptoms are similar to a burnout, lacking motivation, lethargy, etc. The difference is that Senioritis isn’t usually stress or depression caused. It’s just that knowing how I won’t be here next year to deal with consequences makes me want to… Slack off.
I’ve gotten off topic.
Burnout.
If a college freshman is already feeling the symptoms of burnout, then what does that say about the education system? Are we supposedto be holding these children over a fire with a stick? Maybe. But are we then supposed to let them slow roast until a perfect, golden brown –
– or let them catch on fire and watch them try and quench themselves?
Graphic image aside… There goes my two cents. And I don’t care enough to get them back either.
When I was younger, I thought that teachers lived at school. I imagined them sleeping in the classrooms, pulling out the mats we used for nap time and creating comfortable beds. I thought it sounded really fun and cool to live at school. Now that I actually do live at my school, I have a better understanding of what it means and what you give up.
At OVS, there is a clear divide between the day students and the resident students. This is because the day students have time to see each other outside of school every day without the resident students. Similarly, the resident students have a lot of time every day without the day students. This has created a noticeable rift between the student body. When you live at school, it’s harder to put aside free time for your friends. With a schedule that maps out almost every minute of the day, it is a lot more difficult for residents than day students.
There are a lot of day students that I really like and want to get to know better. However, as much as I wish I could change it, watching them drive away as I am confined up on the hill is pretty much standard procedure.
OVS Journalism Blog 
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